Phillies Actively Looking for Center Field Upgrade

Ruben Amaro Jr. addressed the media today, telling Todd Zolecki and others that the club is actively looking to upgrade the center field position after receiving a 6-8 week timetable for Ben Revere‘s return from a broken foot. The Phillies have played second baseman Cesar Hernandez in center field yesterday and today at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and have asked Hernandez to report to Double-A Reading during the Triple-A All-Star break, including skipping the Triple-A All-Star game for which he was selected. Amaro specifically stated that the team is looking for an upgrade over today’s hero John Mayberry Jr. but they will find a pretty thin trade market. The Blue Jays, who entered today 11.5 games out of the AL East race do have Colby Rasmus, Rajai Davis, and former Phils propsect Anthony Gose, who all are able to play center field, but the Jays may be reluctant to trade any of them because of their relative youth and inexpensive, team-friendly deals.

39 Comments

I expect that Davis would be they type of player they could acquire but Gose and Rasmus are intriguing. I have always been fascinated by Rasmus’ talent although his strikeouts this year are wildly high.

Morse wouldn’t help the CF situation at all. He’s just a better hitting version of Delmon Young.

Davis might be available, as he’s older (31, I think?) and the Jays don’t really have a regular spot for the guy and he’ll see his playing time further cut in another week or so when Melky Cabrera returns from the DL. That said, he still has some use as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement, I suppose, so they won’t just give him away.

I think if the Phils had a high opinion of Gillies right now, he’d be brought up, and they wouldn’t be trying Hernandez in center. Gillies was shipped down a notch for a while this year and he always seems to be injured. He has very little experience above AA, and just because he may have hit well at a couple of lower levels doesn’t mean he’s ready for the majors.

That’s sort of kind of almost true if you’re talking about pitchers. Sort of. Kind of. Almost. But it’s completely flat out wrong if you’re talking about hitters.

With that being said, Gillies got sent down from AAA to AA to adjust his swing and has had excellent results after the adjustment. He then got promoted back up to AAA and has continued to hit very well.

He’s still a question mark. He might be an upgrade, but he might be a flop. Apparently management thinks that RIGHT NOW he’d be a flop. I’m sure management wants to see if those “excellent results” continue over a longer period before they deem him ready. Whether we think Gillies is ready is irrelevent; it’s the opinion of experienced scouts that matter.

I agree our opinions really don’t matter… however Gillies is 24 years old, we should either call him up now and see what he can do, or trade him to get a fill in center fielder until revere gets back… baseball careers only last so long, we can’t hold onto the kid in the minors until he’s finally ready, that might be when he’s 30… it’s worth a shot in my opinion, you don’t have to like it…

If talent evaluators think Gillies isn’t ready, I don’t think he should be tried at the ML level. Sometim3es those guys are wrong, but that’s not all that often. I also think if he’s not considered ready, no other team would give a pack of baseball cards for him.

My own suspicions are that in another year, he’ll wind up in a trade for another team’s slow developing player; a disappointment for a disappointment.

There is a definite need to upgrade the pinch-hitters on this team. While, Kevin Frandsen has been very effective coming off the bench, Laynce Nix stopped hitting in May. WIth McDonald strictly a defensive specialist, there is a need to get someone else who can hit coming off the bench.

Mayberry has hit in some clutch situations this year. He got an important home run yesterday and the game winning hit today. I would stick with him and see what he does. He has come up big the last 2 days.

Because the Ben Revere that we saw in June and July (OPS of .820 generated in large part from a BABIP of .400) is the one that is fresh in people’s minds. Since Ben was unlikely to continue producing at such a rate – his career OPS is .654 – I would assume that Mayberry or Davis can replace what anyone should have reasonably expected from Ben over the next 6 to 8 weeks, so I would hate to see them give up anything of value to acquire Davis.

Lefty, Revere is a lot younger than Davis and will likely get better (he was already showing improvement before breaking his foot). He stands a better chance of being being a real force than guys already approaching the downsides of their careers.

George, I think the chances of Revere playing better than he has the last month or so is impossible, regardless of age. The guy really gives his all to the game and the team- and I really appreciate that. I don’t think most people understand, despite my opinions on his ability ceiling, I do like the guy.

But I have to agree with hk, the facts are pretty convincing that what he’s been doing lately is unsustainable.

My question to Devin was more about this-
If he considers Mayberry to be so much of an upgrade over Rajai which is what he is arguing, then why would Mayberry not also be an upgrade to Revere? If Revere and Davis appear on paper to be the same player, regardless of age, then why isn’t Mayberry the starting Center-fielder. To me it’s simple, it’s because Mayberry is not the better everyday player.

I think only a complete fool would think that Revere could sustain what he’s done in the past couple months. However, he hit .294 lat season, so his play is not a complete fluke. I’d guess his ceiling is somewhere near that, possibly a little higher, and that kind of performance should warrant being a regular.

He will probably continue to develop his ability to track flyballs and his decision making on stealing bases, so he is a better option than Davis or Mayberry, who have likely learned all they ever will. And, as you said, not only is Mayberry not a better everyday player. In fact, he is not even an adequate everyday player. His defense is only average, and he can’t hit righties, and he’s already been tried as a regular and found guilty of being a part-timer.

“My question to Devin was more about this- If he considers Mayberry to be so much of an upgrade over Rajai which is what he is arguing, then why would Mayberry not also be an upgrade to Revere? If Revere and Davis appear on paper to be the same player, regardless of age, then why isn’t Mayberry the starting Center-fielder. To me it’s simple, it’s because Mayberry is not the better everyday player. ”

Definitely keep putting words in my mouth, that will make for a rational and intelligent discussion.

I don’t think Mayberry is an upgrade to Davis. I think that Davis is NOT an upgrade to Mayberry. Davis is a slightly better baseball player, but not nearly enough to justify giving up ANYTHING for him.

The difference, to me, between Revere and Mayberry (which is more words you put in my mouth, as my post never even mentioned Revere) is that Revere is young enough to improve. Mayberry (and Davis) are the baseball players that they are going to be already, and neither of those baseball players is valuable.

Anyone see the irony here? The Phillies don’t have any prospects to call up from their pathetic farm system to fill in at CF and middle relief, but the are going to pry valuable players from other teams with their gold mine of talent?

Teams don’t trade from weaknesses, they trade strengths to fill those weak spots. Just because they have little in center or in relief doesn’t mean they’re completely bereft of talent. The Phils have catching depth, two 3rd base prospects, and probably others that another team would be interested in, and they could afford to trade.

This will mean nothing to most of you here but this year’s team reminds me a lot of the 1957 Phils. That team had a bunch of aging veteran stars and a few young guys who showed promise but never really panned out. Arguably, they held on to their Whiz Kids stars too long while getting little return out of their farm system until the early 1960s.

Solly, Granny and Puddin’ Head were all past their prime as were Seminick and Lopata. Even so, the aging Lopata and Hamner were the 2nd and 3rd highest RBI men on the team with 67 & 63 RBIs respectively while Eddie Bouchee led the team with just 76 RBIs. Harry “The Horse” Anderson never quite lived up to his beautiful swing after that year while the young Chico Fernandez and Bouchee also enjoyed their best years as Phillies and also went downhill from there, Simmons and Sanford were still under 30 and had a few more good years elsewhere (as did Whitey) but Robbie was just about cooked losing 22 games that year and Haddix would save his best stuff for one spectacular game as a Pirate.
I
n the end, even with vestiges of past talent and a tiny smattering of promising youth, the team ended up right on .500 at the end of the year. From there it went all downhill for the Phils who suffered through the next 6 seasons in or near the cellar.